The Tides Of War
by WinterSky101
Summary: Thor knows that they need to defeat Thanos, of course, but first he needs to rescue Loki from the Mad Titan's clutches. Second in "Valhalla, I Am Coming."


**Title comes from Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song."**

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Tony asks.

"We're as ready as we're gonna be," Steve says. "We should do it."

Tony scowls a little. There's clearly tension between them, no matter how much they've worked together to stop Thanos' invasion, and Thor regrets the fact that he wasn't here to put an end to their fighting before. They need a unified team, or at the very least, two teams whose leaders don't actively hate and distrust each other. At least they've set aside their petty infighting to focus on the incoming invasion.

"Okay," Tony says. "Let's walk through the plan one last time. We know Thanos wants these Infinity Stone things. He's already coming cause he knows about the one in Vision's head. And when we open Thor's magic box, he'll know the Tesseract is here too. He'll divide his forces so he can get both Stones, we fight the bad guys in both places, and Thor and Xena here blow up his command ship so he can't get away."

"And rescue my brother," Thor adds. He's glad Valkyrie hasn't opposed being called Xena; he's pretty sure she's as clueless as to what it means as he is, but that doesn't mean she can't get offended.

"Do we really need to?" Clint asks, fiddling with an arrow. "I mean, we could also just blow him up with the ship."

"My brother has changed," Thor says, his voice a little sharper than he'd meant for it to be. "He has aided us. He is my _brother_. I will not leave him to die."

Clint makes a face, but doesn't argue any more. Thor knows that Clint has more than enough reason to hate Loki, but that doesn't make it any easier to withstand his derision. At least the others all tentatively agree that Loki seems to be an ally in this fight. He's already proven himself. Loki has appeared in Thor's dreams three times, always with information for their fight against Thanos. Thanks to his intel, they managed to defeat the two warriors Thanos sent, Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight.

Loki has looked more and more ragged every time Thor sees him, and Thor is very worried to see what his brother will look like in real life.

"And we have the teams figured out, right?" Tony asks. He looks around at everyone. "Everyone knows what team they're on?"

The teams seem to be split along the same lines as they were when the Avengers fought each other, from what Thor's heard. He's not entirely certain that's the best idea - shouldn't they be promoting a return to inter-group harmony? - but he admits that now isn't the time to worry about it. Thor's own team is small, only himself and Valkyrie. Heimdall is going to be watching all of them, although he's really supposed to be leading the remaining Asgardians in Thor's absence. He's insisted that he can do both.

He can't see Loki or anything else inside Thanos' ship, so Thor and Valkyrie will be on their own, but they also theoretically have the easiest mission - they won't have to be fighting Thanos, unless things go horribly wrong - so Thor hopes they'll be able to make do.

"Everything's ready," Steve says. He looks around the room. "Are we all good?"

"I think we're all good," Clint replies, and everyone else around the room offers their agreement. When Steve looks at Thor, he just nods once. He is more than ready to get his brother out of Thanos' clutches.

"Okay," Stark says. "Wanna open that box now, Point Break?"

Thor undoes the latch on the chest and puts a hand on each side of the lid. Loki asked him not to open the chest, but all Thor promised was that he wouldn't let Thanos get his hands on the Tesseract. Even though he's opening the chest, he has no intention of letting Thanos get to it.

Slowly, he opens the chest. Despite the tension in the room, nothing terrible happens. Inside, nestled in folds of gold velvet, is the glowing Tesseract. Thor looks down at it, then he looks up at the others.

"We should ready ourselves for battle. It is coming."

* * *

"When are we going in?" Valkyrie asks, absentmindedly swinging her sword.

"When we get the signal," Thor replies, checking that the heading on their ship is ready.

"And when are we going to get the signal?"

"When the others are ready."

Valkyrie makes a noise of derision. "Your teammates suck."

"They are not at their best," Thor allows. "But they are strong, and they will not allow Thanos to win."

"Why do they hate your brother so much?" Valkyrie asks. "I mean, he's not the most likable person in the universe, but they really hate him."

"Loki…" Thor sighs. "This is not the first time Loki has encountered Thanos. After his first encounter, he was coerced into working with Thanos and led an assault on Midgard. We prevented his attempt from succeeding, but it was not without loss of life. The others still hold a grudge against him for it."

"But if he was coerced into it-"

"They do not know that," Thor says. "And you will not tell them. I do not think Loki would want them to know. He only told me recently."

Valkyrie nods without argument. She and Thor wait silently for another few moments, then FRIDAY's accented voice says into both their earpieces, _"Mr. Stark says to light them up."_

"Gladly," Valkyrie says, tightening the grip on her sword.

Thor maneuvers their ship into position and flies it as fast as he can, heading straight for Thanos' docking bay. Valkyrie jumps out before it even lands, throwing herself at the Chitauri warriors as they begin to raise their rifles. None of them has the chance to fire a shot.

Thor jumps out of the ship, swinging his hammer. It doesn't have the same strength as Mjolnir, but Tony has managed to make a worthy replacement. Between the two of them, they empty the room fairly quickly.

"I'll go to the engine room," Valkyrie says. Her sword is dripping with black Chitauri blood, but she doesn't seem to care. "You get Lackey."

"Call me if you need help," Thor replies, then he turns and runs down the hall. He can hear Valkyrie doing the same across the room.

The ship is somewhat of a maze, but Thor is able to find the dungeons fairly easily. None of the cells seem to be occupied. Thor's heart sinks, then he hears soft, ragged breathing coming from a room all the way down the hall.

The second he opens the door, he's hit with the smell. The most powerful scent is blood, but there are other scents hidden beneath it as well. It's enough to make Thor's eyes water.

Then he sees the figure nailed to the wall, and all thoughts of the smell are gone.

Loki looked thin and pale in Thor's dreams, but in real life he looks corpselike. His hands are stretched above his head, a nail driven through both palms, and his feet are nailed to the wall as well. Arguably the worst injury, though, is the massive spike driven through Loki's torso.

Thor thinks he's going to throw up.

"Loki," he says, stepping forward. He needs to find some way to remove the nails. He can't just leave them there, in Loki's hands and feet and torso-

Loki lets out a soft moan, his head lolling a little. "Loki!" Thor says again, and this time Loki's eyes flicker open.

"Thor," he whispers. "Thor, you can't-" Loki's eyes flutter shut. "A dream. Or a new torture. Nothing more."

"Loki, it's me," Thor says. There's a set of pliers on a nearby table, crusted with blood. Thor picks them up. Loki's eyes fly open again at the soft clatter of metal.

"A new torture, then," he says, his voice weak and breathy. "If you think torture at the hands of someone wearing the guise of my brother will be enough to make me break-"

"Loki, it's me," Thor says again. "I'm here to get you out."

For a moment, Thor sees a hint of hope flicker across Loki's expression, then it's gone. "You cannot be my brother."

"I am," Thor says. "Loki, I'm here."

"Lies," Loki hisses. "You cannot be Thor."

Thor looks down at his hand. He thinks of what Loki did when Thanos' ship first arrived, how he showed Thor his memories. Thor doesn't have the same magic Loki does, but he thinks he might know how to make that work.

"Loki, do you trust me?"

Loki stares at him. "I trust my brother," he finally says.

Thor raises his palm and puts it against Loki's forehead. He ignores Loki's sharp inhalation at the contact. Instead, he focuses on the memories he wants Loki to see and imagines passing them down his arm and through his hand into Loki's mind. Flying away from Thanos' ship, reaching Midgard, telling the others about the approaching threat, opening the chest, coming onto the ship with Valkyrie, finding Loki.

Loki blinks once, then twice. "You weren't supposed to open the chest," he finally says.

"You told me not to let Thanos get the Tesseract," Thor replies. "I have no intention of letting him get it. But the distraction was necessary."

"You should not have come back for me. I told you, I'm not worth it."

"You're a fool," Thor replies. He holds up the pliers. "I'll need to get those nails out of you. This will most likely hurt."

"Do it fast."

Thor starts with the nail through Loki's feet. He yanks it out as fast as he can. Loki makes a soft sound of pain, but he shakes his head when Thor looks up at him in askance.

"Keep going."

Next, Thor takes out the nail through Loki's hands. They fall to his sides the second the nail is gone, blood dripping onto the floor. Already, Thor can see a dull green glow gathering around the wounds. It's not as bright as Loki's seidr normally is, but it's starting to work on the wounds.

"This one will hurt the most," Thor warns as he holds the pliers up to the spike in Loki's stomach.

"It's not especially comfortable as it is," Loki snipes back, and, well, if he's well enough to be contrary, Thor supposes it can't be _too_ bad.

Thor grips the spike with the pliers, then he yanks it out. Loki makes a muffled noise, his teeth biting down into his lower lip so hard it bleeds. He falls forward the second the spike is removed, but Thor drops the pliers and catches him.

"I have you, brother," he says, shifting Loki into a better position to be carried. "I have you."

"We need to get out of here," Loki gasps. Far too much blood is seeping from his various wounds, but Thor didn't think to bring bandages. There are some on the ship, though, so he can patch Loki up once they get there.

 _"Thor,"_ Valkyrie's voice says through the comms. _"I'm in the engine room. I'm setting the charges right now. How are you?"_

"I've found Loki," Thor replies. At Loki's confused frown, Thor turns his head to show the earpiece and mouths _Valkyrie_. "We're on our way back to the ship."

 _"Good,"_ Valkyrie says. _"I'll meet you there soon. Watch out, there are a lot more soldiers in the halls now than there were a few minutes ago. I think they've figure out something is up."_

"We'll be careful," Thor replies. He looks down at Loki, bleeding in his arms. He's in no shape to fight, and nor is he in any shape to walk on his own. Thor will have to fight with his brother in his arms. It's not the best position he's ever been in, but it's not the worst either. At least he has Loki with him, no longer left in Thanos' mad clutches. He will not let Thanos touch Loki again.

Loki groans as Thor begins to jog down the hall, but he shakes his head when Thor starts to slow down. They don't have any time to waste. Thor speeds up, moving as fast as he can. Chitauri soldiers come at him, but he conducts his lightning through his feet and sends it through the floor, spreading out until it reaches the soldiers and fries them where they stand.

They're almost at the docking bay when they're stopped by a massive group of Chitauri soldiers. There's no way Thor can fight them off while still holding Loki. Even if he puts his brother down, he doesn't think his odds are all that great, not when he's going to have to protect Loki as well as fight. He'll just have to put Loki down and hope for the best.

Then a wave of green light flares out, sending all the Chitauri flying backwards. Thor looks down at Loki, who's gone bone white in his arms. "Go," he pants, and Thor goes.

 _"Thor, are you coming?"_ Valkyrie demands. _"This docking bay is getting pretty crowded."_

"We're almost here," Thor replies. He sprints down the hall, past the unconscious bodies of the Chitauri, and bursts into the docking bay. The ship is halfway across the room, and there are a few soldiers between it and Thor, but they're fairly easy to take out. Thor bursts onto the ship, and Valkyrie starts piloting it away before the door has even fully closed behind him.

"You got your brother?" Valkyrie calls, not looking back.

"I did," Thor replies, laying Loki on the floor of the ship. He grabs the bag of medical supplies and drags it over. Loki's eyes are shut, but Thor thinks he might still be hanging onto consciousness. Gently, Thor takes his hand, looking at the bloody hole still punched in the middle of it, and begins to clean the wound.

"Thor," Loki whispers when Thor's halfway done cleaning the wound on his other hand. "Thor, are we away?"

"We're away," Thor replies. Valkyrie has piloted them a safe distance from Thanos' ship, and she's about to detonate the charges she left in the engine room. "You will never go back there again, brother, I swear it."

"Is this real?" Loki breathes.

"This is real," Thor replies, putting one hand on the side of Loki's neck like he used to do when they were young, before the cosmos tried to split them apart. "This is real."

"Here," Valkyrie says, walking over. She holds out the detonator and places it on Loki's bandaged palm, curling his fingers around it. "Press the big red button on the top and say goodbye to Thanos' ship."

Loki presses the button, and out the window, the ship explodes into a giant fiery ball. Thor isn't watching that, though; he's more focused on the small smile curling Loki's lips.

He swears then, to whatever beings are listening, that he will not let anyone take his brother away again.


End file.
